"NATOs
task is not to turn back the boats. We will provide critical
information. To enable the Greek and Turkish coastguards, as
well as Frontex, to do their job even more effectively....

Let me also address
the issue of Search and Rescue. The obligation to help people
in distress at sea is a general, universal responsibility. It
applies to all vessels. Regardless of whether they are part of
a NATO or national mission. If Allied vessels encounter people
in distress at sea, they have to live up to their national responsibility
to assist.

In case of rescue
of persons coming via Turkey, they will be taken back to Turkey. In carrying out their tasks,
our nations will abide by national and international law."

This statement begs the
question: If the sea is calm and a refugee boat is clearly not
"in distress" will they be "rescued" and
returned en masse to Turkey by NATO?

See: Excellent article:
The
NATO pushbacks in the Aegean and international law (link) by Thomas Spijkerboer,
Professor of Migration Law: "The most directly applicable case
is the 2012 Hirsi Jamaa
judgment, in
which the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights
passed judgment on the Italian pushbacks, which consisted of
transferring migrants from vessels onto Italian navy vessels
and returning to Libya without any procedure. The Court held
that a state exercises de jure jurisdiction over vessels flying
its flag, and therefore the migrants were under Italian jurisdiction.
It added that Italy could not evade the exercise of jurisdiction
by arguing that its activities constitute a search and rescue
action  just like NATO is doing at present....

The conclusion has
to be that the NATO actions are in violation of international
law; and that the relevant parts of international law are binding
on NATO states because they exercise jurisdiction over migrants.
Returning migrants to Turkey as envisioned violates the prohibition
of refoulement, also when it happens in the form of search and
rescue."
[emphasis added]

"Lefteris Ioannides,
the mayor of Kozani in northern Greece didnt blink, when
he was informed by police that there were hundreds of stranded
refugees at the Greek border town of Idomeni and there were busloads
heading towards his city.

Within a matter of three
hours he mobilized the entire city, but not without a bit of
resistance, that he worked to overcome without issues.

A site was located to
house 400 people comfortably the gymnasium of one of the
local schools after the initial proposed site at another gymnasium,
owned by one of the local Greek Orthodox monasteries in the region
refused to allow the facilitys use for refugees.

A team of journalists
were in charge of laying down blankets and making the cavernous
room more welcoming, while a team of university students helped
clean the welcome center."

[In Leros] Due
to the lack of large morgues on the island, many corpses [of
immigrants] were placed in ice cream freezers,
the source stressed, adding:

When in one week
you have to manage a big number of corpses what are you doing?
We are trying to handle the situation but we lack equipment [ ]
the assistance from the European Civil Protection Mechanism is
poor, [a source] underlined."

In a statement submitted
to Greek website for military affairs OnAlert, , Manolas argues
that the activation of Article 4 would get Austria and FYROM
on the table for consultations and would give Greece a tool to
exert pressure to these two countries with regards to closure
of the borders to refugees and migrants.

Austria and FYROM are
not NATO members but members of Partnership For Peace.
The PFP is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) program
aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe
and the former Soviet Union."

"The refugees have
become very angry after the long delays of border crossing as
Skopje open the gates only on and off. On Sunday, borders opened
from 9 pm until 4 am and only 305 people went through 
and not 500 per day as it was supposedly to happen. On Monday,
borders opened 11:30-12 and only 10 people went through. No wonder
that the thousands awaiting got angry. They threw stones at the
FYROM police and were changing Open the border! and see: EUs
evil Plan B: Cutting the Balkan Route, Bottling up thousands
of Refugees and Migrants in Greece (keeptalkinggreece.comm link): "he closure
of borders in the north of Greece has created chaos: thousands
of refugees and migrants wandering from Athens to Idomeni without
knowing where to sleep and what to eat, where to lay their kids
and elderly to sleep. FYROM, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria has
closed their border today. "

"Idomeni (Greece)
(AFP) - Stranded migrants lay with their children on rail tracks
at Greece's northern border, demanding to be allowed to continue
their journey, as Germany warned that Europe cannot let the country
"plunge into chaos".

German Chancellor Angela
Merkel was speaking as Athens said that the number of migrants
trapped in Greece could triple after Balkan countries announced
a daily cap on migrant arrivals. Tensions between European nations
worst affected by the migrant crisis are running high, with Austria's
Chancellor Werner Faymann accusing Greece of "behaving like
a travel agency" for migrants hoping to start new lives
elsewhere in Europe."

Greece-Macedonia: Turmoil
at Idomeni; refugees occupy the railway tracks (ANAmpa, link): "Turmoil
prevails currently at Idomeni (Greece-Fyrom buffer zone) where
a number of refugees have blocked the railway track and are throwing
stones against Fyrom's police officers."

and Migrants
charge through Macedonia fence on Greek border (BBC News, link): "A crowd
of migrants has burst through a barbed-wire fence on the Macedonia-Greece
border using a steel pole as a battering ram. TV footage showed
migrants pushing against the fence at Idomeni, ripping away barbed
wire, as Macedonian police let off tear gas to force them away."

and also: FYROM
police fire tear gas at migrants (ekathimerini.com, link): "Police said
500 people earlier pushed their way past Greek police to reach
the gate used to let trains through at the border crossing.About
6,500 people are stuck on the Greek side of the border. Some
have been there for up to eight days with little food or shelter
as FYROM only accepts a trickle of people every day. [AP]"

"Immigration Policy
Alternate Minister said that Greek government drafted an EU plan
of emergency action to control the number of migrants and refugees....
round 22,000 migrants and refugees have found themselves stranded
in Greece after the Baltic transit route countries drastically
cut entrance numbers. Mouzalas projected the figure to grow more
than twofold by mid-March.

"There are plans
when borders are closed We are building emergency camps
 not the usual reception centers  with tents in fields,"
he stressed, allaying fears that the migrants and refugees would
stay in Greece indefinitely...Mouzalas further reassured that
there would be "nothing wrong" with declaring a state
of emergency in the southern region of Attica as a means of civil
defense."

News (29.2.16)

Europe slaps new restrictions on migrants, fails
to show solidarity
(dailysabah.com/europe, link): "Despite warnings from
international organizations that restrictive measures will not
stop the influx of migrants, many EU countries continue to introduce
new measures, including razor wire and border checks since the
beginning of the year"

Greece: More
Refugees and Migrants Arrive on Islands on Monday (Greek Reporter, link): "Approximately
2,500 migrants and refugees have been identified and ready to
depart from Lesvos to Piraeus or Kavala port. 1,450 refugees
that arrived on Lesvos from Sunday until Monday morning have
been identified at Morias hotspot while 500 persons are currently
waiting to be identified."

Europes most hostile port of entry - Bulgaria
puts out its own welcome mat for migrants (politico, link): "We
tried the Bulgarian border four times and the final time we were
successful but then we met the police, said Ali. They
shot in the air, they set dogs on us and one father who tried
to defend his daughter from the dogs got beaten by the police.
They took our phones that we were using for GPS and 200
each. They looked everywhere, even our underwear. There was a
man with disabilities who couldnt understand what the police
were telling him, but they beat him anyway. We heard these rumors
about Bulgaria but there is no other way for us"

Orban: EU leaders lack will to stop migrants (euobserver, link): "Hungarys
prime minister, Viktor Orban, said Sunday (28 February) EU leaders
had no will to get a grip on the migration crisis, and vowed
to fight pressure from Brussels to take in more refugees."

CoE: Nils
Muiznieks: Europe trapped in migration vicious circle (link): "Human rights
commissioner Nils Muiznieks fears European countries are drawing
themselves into a more and more vicious circle by
closing their borders to asylum seekers.Many states are
considering or enacting counter-productive policies, such as
erecting fences, reducing asylum seeker benefits, seizing their
belongings, making asylum seekers pay for staying at reception
centres or for time in detention, restricting family reunification,
and granting only temporary, unstable forms of status. Many
of these measures not only run counter to European human rights
standards, they are also harmful to social cohesion and ineffective.
Instead of helping these people, European countries are engaging
in a race to repel migrants, in violation of the principle of
inter-state solidarity and of human rights standards."

&COPY; Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X.
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